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The War Correspondent

uploaded: Fri, Mar 15, 2024 @ 3:26 AM

by	Radioontheshelf
Featuring	Robert Warrington
length	3:32
Recommends	Recommends (5)

In the past 20 years nearly 2000 journalists have been killed whilst reporting on conflicts around the world. For most of us the thought of deliberately putting ourselves in harms way is too hard to comprehend but for some reporters and cameramen it is just a life they get used to. One of the most harrowing talks I attended was by the famous war photographer, Tim Page. His accounts of the various conflicts he covered, especially Vietnam were a sobering listen.

Thanks again to Robert Warrington for another great poem.

I can’t sleep because of trumped up charges
And show trials in kangaroo courts
And no elections and rigged elections
And countries run by generals, armies shooting into crowds
Because of death squads and murder gangs
Because they’re poisoning the well with bodies
Because in some bunker or some boardroom or some bedroom
All out war is being planned by strategists
While the sky is shattering into splinters of terror
Because the refugee camp is overflowing
Because another child’s about to step onto a landmine
Because the women are being dragged into the forest by boy soldiers
Because it seems so futile fighting these monstrosities
Because power nearly always wins
And even when it loses it’s just a temporary setback
Because of all the homophobes around the globe
But mostly I can’t sleep because of your back and the back of your neck
Because my best shot wasn’t good enough
Because my best shot wasn’t good enough
It wasn’t even close, it didn’t even get close
Now you’re not here and I don’t know where you are
And every morning is the same morning
Chasing the same fading morning star